A garage from the Forest of Dean has lost thousands of pounds after thieves targeted its diesel supply. John Hall and John Martin, who run the Ross Road Garage in Huntley, were left more than £11,000 out of pocket after a large amount of diesel was siphoned from their tank. Mr Hall, who has been at the site for more than 20 years, said the garage and neighbouring businesses were often targeted because of their remote location. He said: "We get our fair share of burglaries, but nobody ever seems to see anything. "We've all been robbed along here at some point. It just seems to be one after the other, because we're so far out. We also don't have the police presence we used to. Years ago we had a patrol car which could come down the road looking in on us, but there's none of that now." Mr Hall said the thieves had managed to find their way into the tank via a manhole cover in the ground. He said: "It must have been very early in the morning on Saturday February 27. "We'd had a delivery on the Thursday, so there was plenty of it in there. They removed the manhole cover, then they broke the lock which was holding the top on, and then they must have got a large tube and sucked it out. "They must have had a big truck to take it away, because that's a lot of fuel. "Mr Hall said the cost of replacing the fuel had been incredibly expensive. He said: "To put back what we had before they came cost us £11,237." Quite a few stations have been done like ours, and although I admit we're in business to make money, we also employ people and we need to be able to protect their jobs." A police investigation has been launched and officers are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time to come forward. A Gloucestershire police spokeswoman said: "Between 10pm
on Friday February 26 and 8.15am on Saturday February 27, 9680 litres of fuel were stolen from a garage in Huntley. The stolen diesel is valued at around £10,000. "In the last year there have been a total of four thefts or burglaries from business premises in Ross Road, these range from the theft of an advertising board to the theft of 150 decking boards.
UK, Fuel firm in talks to acquire Texaco outlets in Ireland British fuel group Malthurst is believed to be in talks with oil giant Chevron to purchase more than 20 of its company-owned Texaco filling stations in Ireland. It is understood that talks have been ongoing for some months. Malthurst formed two companies in December in preparation for its entry into the Irish market: MRH (Ireland) Petroleum Ltd and MRH (Ireland) Properties Ltd. Founded in 1997, Malthurst is the largest independent owner and operator of petrol stations in Britain, accounting for about 4 per cent of the market. It is headquartered in Essex and has 300 filling stations in England and Scotland using a number of brands, including Texaco and BP. It also runs a wholesale fuel business distributing to commercial and domestic customers. MRH (GB) Ltd recorded turnover of £1.35 billion. Barclays Private Equity owns a 38 per cent stake in the business. When contacted about the talks, a spokeswoman for Chevron said: ”No decision has been made about our Dublin assets at this time. Nothing has been finalised.” Chevron owns the Texaco brand and runs a large network of filling stations in Ireland. It is understood that the group is keen to sell its company-owned sites. Chevron also owns Texoil in Ireland. This company distributes home heating oil and other fuel products around the country. The oil giants have gradually withdrawn from Ireland and other European markets in recent years to focus more on their upstream exploration and refining activities. Shell and Statoil sold their service stations to Topaz within the
past five years while Esso has retrenched its operation to the Leinster area. It is not clear how much Malthurst would pay for the Texaco stations but it would be expected to spend several million upgrading the forecourts and possibly rebranding them. At the height of the boom, filling stations in urban areas carried hefty price tags. But valuations have plunged and many sites bought for redevelopment have recently had their forecourt operations restored. Topaz is the biggest fuel group in Ireland with a share of 30 per cent. It expects to make an operating profit of €20 million this year on turnover of €3 billion-plus
UK, Immingham. Fines over taxi firm fatal blast Two women died in the explosion at the taxi firm. A taxi firm owner and a petrol station have been fined after an explosion in Immingham in which two people died. Sue Barker, 43, and Ann Mawer, 52, died in the blast at Fred's Taxis in 2007 when petrol on the premises ignited. Mrs Barker's husband John Barker, 46, of Washdyke Lane, Immingham, was fined £2,400 after he admitted two counts of breaching health and safety laws. Immingham Service Station Ltd was fined £7,500 at Grimsby Crown Court for breaching its petroleum licence. The explosion happened on Christmas Eve, 2007. After an investigation by North East Lincolnshire Council, Mr Barker was charged with failing to protect his employees in relation to the storage of petrol and failing to protect the public. Immingham Service Station Ltd, of Pelham Road, Immingham, admitted breaching a condition of its petroleum spirit licence by dispensing the fuel into an unapproved container. North East Lincolnshire Council said Mr Barker had bought nearly 25 litres of petrol from the service station. He then carried it into the taxi firm's office, which also contained a gas heater and electrical appliances. The container broke and the petrol
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UK, Thieves steal £11K of diesel from Gloucestershire garage
